Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
In her Jan. 7 Bangor Daily News letter, Susan Lara reiterates that she wants to go back to when there were only two sex genders, male and female.
It’s true that most people are either male or female, and many recognize only those sexes. However, it’s a fact of nature that some people are born with (or later develop) variations in reproductive anatomy or sex characteristics that don’t fit neatly into male/female categories. (To learn more, you could look up intersex, for example.) Also, nonbinary and transgender people don’t always fit conventional male/female categories.
These people have been with us all along and recently have become more visible and accepted. Why insist that they don’t exist, when in fact, they do? Do you want to force them into hiding and pretending to be something they are not? Shame them and designate them as abnormal, freaks of nature? Do you feel qualified or entitled to assert that you know them better than they know themselves? Do you think your ideas and beliefs are more important than their lives?
These small, vulnerable minorities of people are just trying to be true to themselves and live as well as possible. Some politicians have been portraying them as enemies to be feared, I believe purposely fostering panic and hate, in order to win elections. Rushing to dismiss, despise, condemn and demonize without even trying to understand is really harmful! At 68 years old, I have had trouble understanding them, too, but I think it is very important to try.
Sandra Merrick
Mount Vernon
